David Cameron used a trip to Liverpool on Monday to boast about the coalition's commitment to get British businesses exporting as part of the planned economic recovery.
"There's nothing more important in my long-term economic plan for Britain than making this the most creative country on earth - at the forefront of the latest industry, making things and selling them to the world," he said in a speech to mark the opening of the International Festival of Business.
Cameron's aim, while laudable, still seems far off, as chancellor George Osborne planned four years ago to build an economy "where we save, invest and export". The UK still imports more than it exports, government schemes have been failing and the official predictions for Britain's export prospects look gloomy.
HuffPostUK has rounded up ten seriously awkward facts about Osborne's failure to get Britain's exports off the ground.